Each issue has a short prayer order that can be used by individuals, families, and small groups.
The first issue of this devotional booklet was published for Lent 1937 with the title Standing In His Grace.
First delivered seven times a year, Portals of Prayer became a bi-monthly devotional in 1959, and a quarterly publication in 1981.
While the devotional has always been available in the familiar "pocket-sized" edition, new sizes and formats have joined it over the years.
While often members of the LCMS, past authors have been selected from both clergy and lay among Lutherans in the US, Canada, Australia, and Britain.
Writers are selected based upon their demonstrated ability to write in a clear and engaging style while demonstrating a keen ability to proclaim the Gospel of God's love and mercy in the person and work of Jesus Christ as presented in Holy Scripture and confessed in the Confessions of the Lutheran Church (Book of Concord, 1580).